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Funding Sought for Cold Case Unit

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) _ Maine lawmakers from both parties are making a push this year to fund a unit in the attorney general's office that would focus solely on investigating the state's more than 100 unsolved homicides.

    Republican Gov. Paul LePage signed a bill creating the unit last year, but the Legislature never funded it.

    Pam McLain's 16-year-old daughter was killed 35 years ago in East Millinocket. He called the lack of funding ``a slap in the face.'' 

    The Legislature predicted last year that the special cold case squad would cost more than $500,000 in the first fiscal year and roughly $400,000 a year after that.

    LePage's administration says that while he supports the idea, he believes that are other priorities that need to be funded first: like several new drug enforcement agent positions and drug-crimes prosecutors in the attorney general's office.